The trust running hospitals in Lincolnshire has apologised to patients after being ranked the worst in the country for delays in transferring patients from ambulances to hospitals.

A new parliamentary report reveals nearly half of United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust's (ULHT) ambulances experienced a 30-minute delay.

One in five took more than an hour to carry out a so-called "handover", the report also found.

Simon Evans, director of operations at ULHT, said staff had been put under "extreme pressure" during the winter period.

"We have experienced unprecedented levels of patients in our emergency departments this winter, reducing our ability to transfer patients from the ambulance crews into our care," said Mr Evans.

"We'd like to apologise to patients who have experienced delays in our emergency departments, however we are already starting to see a reduction in delays from the changes we have implemented over the last month."

People living in Scunthorpe fear more green space in the town could be lost if plans to sell a former playing field for housing is given the go-ahead.

Image source, Google

North Lincolnshire Council wants to sell off the land near the town's Quibell Park athletics track.

So far, a petition against the sale has attracted nearly 2,000 signatures.

The council says the decision to put up the site for sale was made because it currently owns too much green space.

Nearly 2,000 people have signed a petition to save an indoor bowls centre in Gainsborough which has been threatened as part of a leisure centre revamp.

West Lindsey District Council wants to turn the area at the West Lindsey Leisure Centre into a health and well-being facility which it says will benefit more people.

But members of the club say they'll have nowhere else to go, leaving members who use the bowls club without one of their main social activities.

The petition will be discussed at a full council meeting on Monday and the council says it's trying to help the club to find an alternative venue.

A Scunthorpe shopkeeper has been convicted of selling counterfeit tobacco and given a 12-month community order.

Image source, Google

Milan Muhammed, of Smiths Convenience Store on Frodingham Road, Scunthorpe, pleaded guilty to 12 offences relating to the sale of counterfeit tobacco and tobacco labelling offences.

In total, 892 packets of cigarettes and 6.25kg of hand rolling tobacco with a street value of around £3,300 were seized during an operation by a trading standards team in 2017.

Muhammed, was given a 12-month Community Order with the requirement to complete 150 hours of unpaid work.

He was also ordered to pay £610 costs and £85 victim surcharge.

A lack of lorry drivers is threatening the county's economic growth and prosperity according to council leaders.

New estimates say Lincolnshire will need 5,000 more lorry drivers in the next five years - but it's claimed the industry is already suffering from a chronic shortage.

Haulage firm owners say they're battling with a retiring workforce and a recruitment crisis.

Meanwhile, Lincolnshire County Council says the situation is threatening to impact on economic growth and prosperity.

An well-known building in North East Lincolnshire could be put on the market.

The Grade-II listed Welholme Galleries building in Grimsby closed as a museum back in 2004.

Next week North East Lincolnshire Council will look at proposals to dispose of the freehold on the building.

There had been plans to turn it into a 250 seat theatre, but they did not proceed.

A body created to overhaul transport in northern England is to meet for the first time as it takes up new powers.

Transport for the North (TfN) will hold its first board meeting in Liverpool with Transport Minister Jo Johnson.

TfN will advise the government on transport strategy and enact a 30-year road and railway upgrade scheme unveiled in January.

Image source, Transport for the North

TfN has identified seven "corridors of opportunity" where the movement of people and goods across the region could be improved.

This includes the route from the port of Liverpool to the Humber ports via Cheshire, Greater Manchester and Sheffield, and between non-carbon energy and research centres in Cumbria, north Lancashire, North Yorkshire and the North East.

The strategy also outlines more detail on the vision for Northern Powerhouse Rail.

It features a new line between Liverpool and the HS2 Manchester spur via Warrington, increased capacity at Manchester Piccadilly and a new link connecting Manchester and Leeds via Bradford.

Owain Wyn Evans
Weather presenter, BBC Look North

It's a fine start to the day and it looks set to continue.

Here's the full weather forecast:

The delay between transferring patients from an ambulance to hospitals in Lincolnshire is among some of the biggest in the country.

A new report from NHS England has highlighted the pressure faced by crews during the winter months.

According to the figures, almost half of the ambulances were delayed by at least 30 minutes in handing patients over to hospitals in the county.

And one in five were delayed by more than an hour between December and February.

The United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust says it experienced "unprecedented" patient numbers at A&E departments and is now working with the East Midlands Ambulance Service and NHS Improvement to prevent delays in the future.

Highlights of our showcase in Boston at the Sam Newson Centre, featuring sessions from Kings & Bears, Audio Tap, Alice Kat and Checkpoint.

The top stories from across Lincolnshire so far today include:

• Lincolnshire Police force faces criticism over plans to equip 5,000 officers with spit hoods
• A man's arrested on suspicion of drink-driving after a rush hour crash
• A major route through Lincoln is to close for repairs - less than two years after it opened
• People applying for a firearms licence in Lincolnshire must provide a medical report from today
• Plans are unveiled for a major revamp of Ingoldmells beach

Hope Bolger
BBC Local Live, Lincolnshire

I've been for a look round a "luminarium" in Lincoln today, something its creators describe as an immersive walk-in sculpture.

Some people looking at it told me it reminded them of a giant bouncy castle.

Here's what it's like inside:

If you want to take a look for yourself, it's at the University of Lincoln's Brayford campus from tomorrow until Sunday.

Forcing people to provide medical reports when they apply to own a gun is a sensible move, according to Lincolnshire's deputy chief constable Craig Naylor.

Image source, Lincolnshire Police

The Lincolnshire force says it's the first in the country to make such a stipulation for people who want a firearms licence.

Deputy Chief Constable Craig Naylor (pictured) says: "To really reassure ourselves that this is a safe process, we need a doctor to tell us about a person's history."

Three Lincolnshire councils - West Lindsey, South Holland and East Lindsey - are reversing the national trend for the gender pay gap, new figures show.

Image source, Getty Images

Organisations with more than 250 staff must state the average difference between male and female employees.

They have until midnight tonight to submit the figures and failure could result in an unlimited fine.

West Lindsey, South Holland and East Lindsey councils all pay women on average more than their male counterparts, their figures show.

Meanwhile, Lincolnshire Police has also been revealed to have one of the smallest gaps of any force in the country after organisations were forced to reveal pay data by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission.

The Viking Link is a proposed 473-mile (761km) electricity cable across the North Sea.

A World War One replica hangar is at the heart of a major new exhibition to commemorate the RAF in Lincolnshire as it marks its centenary:

Lincoln's new east-west link road is to close for repairs starting next week, Lincolnshire County Council has announced.

The road, which opened about 18 months ago, will be closed at night from 19:00 to 06:00 to allow the work to take place.

The improvements will take place across the link road's route, including the High Street/Tentercroft Street junction, Tentercroft Street, Portland Street and the Kesteven Street junction with Canwick Road.

Diversions will be in place.

Some companies across East Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire have revealed their gender pay gap between men and women.

Image source, PA

The gender pay gap is the difference between average hourly earnings for men and women.

Unlike pay inequality, which compares the wages of men and women doing the same job, a gender pay gap is not illegal, but could possibly reflect discrimination.

The average gap in the UK is about 10%.

Locally, the Northern Lincolnshire Catholic Academy Trust, which run seven academies, says nearly 40% of women are paid less than men.

At KCOM in Hull the gap is 38% and at Smith and Nephew it's 33%.

Grimsby Institute has been named one of the UK's top colleges in the most recent government statistics.

Image source, Google

According to national achievement rates tables for 2016-17, the Institute is in the top 10% for the number of learners who gain a qualification.

It also ranks 17th highest overall for student achievement.

Ricky Coxon, executive director for information services and planning at Grimsby Institute, says the figures show how well the college is doing:

A man woke up to find a burglar spraying a "noxious substance" in his face in an incident in Spalding yesterday, police have revealed.

Image source, Google

Police say the victim was asleep at his home in Helmsley Way, Spalding, when the liquid was "discharged in his face and eyes".

Detectives say up to four men were involved in the break-in, which happened at about 15.20 on Tuesday.

They've appealed for anyone who saw anything suspicious to come forward.